Politics and Randomness

Sunday, December 4, 2016

You're never really too old to defend yourself. In Eastpointe, Michigan, a 91-year-old man was getting out of his car outside of a pharmacy when he noticed a man approaching him in a threatening manner. The armed citizen declared that he was a permit holder. He waited in his car until the stranger disappeared. But when he got out a little while later to enter the store, the assailant came toward him and raised a weapon over his head at the older man. Warning the miscreant that he was armed, the 91-year-old pulled his .38 Special-chambered revolver from his side and opened fire, striking the attacker in the neck. "It doesn't have to be a gun or a knife," said Eric Keiser, Eastpointe deputy police chief. "The suspect had a piece of metal fashioned as a weapon. [The armed citizen] felt his life was in danger." The suspect was transported to an area hospital and was later charged. (MacombDaily.com, Eastpointe, MI., 8/23/16)

An assailant in West Philadelphia, Pa., lost his life after attacking his ex-girlfriend. The man tried to enter the residence through a downstairs kitchen window. Not one to stand idly by, the woman's new boyfriend pushed the attacker back through the window and temporarily kept him at bay. Undeterred, the assailant made his way up to a second-floor bedroom window and successfully entered the home that way. The woman attempted to defend the home and got into an altercation with him. Her current boyfriend came to her defense, pulling a gun and firing a single shot at the intruder. Officers arrived, and the injured attacker was transported to a local hospital. where he later died. (ABC 6, West Philadelphia, PA, 8/25/16)

Sleeping on the job gave a store manager the element of surprise so he could take down a bad guy. As closing time was approaching, a manager at a local supermarket in Waterloo, Iowa, decided to take a short nap behind a counter in his store while another employee worked with customers. The manager was awakened by loud talking and heard repeated demands of "Give me money." Looking up, the manager saw a male intruder who was pointing a gun at the store clerk. "He didn't see me before. When he saw me, he pointed the gun to me and said, 'Don't move,'" the manager recalled in a news interview. As the gunman turned his attention back to the clerk, the manager reached for a 9 mm Luger semi-automatic he had stowed. The bad guy and the manager exchanged fire, with a bullet striking the troublemaker. The intruder then fled. Police later found and arrested the suspect. (WCFCourier.com, Waterloo, IA, 8/29/16)

In Oregon, a 15-year-old boy taught a home intruder a lesson. The boy was home alone when he heard someone enter the abode. The teen retrieved a shotgun. When he saw the intruder, he fired and shot the man in the leg. "The juvenile was in fear of his safety, my initial conclusion is that the shooting...was a justifiable use of force," said District Attorney Paul Frasier. (The World, Myrtle Point, OR., 8/6/16)

One criminal paid the price for messing with a mother's son after a recent attempted robbery in Augusta, Ga. One Sunday, two men with crowbars entered a Subway restaurant. When the two men began to act suspiciously, the employee behind the counter went to retrieve a firearm from her purse. After one of the alleged robbers struck her 14-year-old son, who was standing behind the counter, in the back of the head, the armed citizen opened fire and put two rounds into one of the assailants. The owner of the franchise said he supported his employee's right to carry a firearm for defensive purposes. The suspect who was shot died, and police later apprehended his alleged accomplice. (WRDW 12, Augusta, GA., 8/25/16)

A good Samaritan came to the aid of a neighbor during a domestic dispute that ended in the death of the aggressor. In Gonzales, La., a man in his home heard people arguing outside. He went to investigate. The neighbor approached the two people-a man and a woman-who were arguing and was accosted by the male. The instigator pointed a handgun at the good Samaritan, who in turn drew his own firearm and shot. When police officers arrived, they determined that the man who had been arguing with the woman was dead. The police said that charges would not be filed against the armed citizen, saying that he ended a dispute that might have led to the death of the woman. (ABC 2, Gonzales, LA, 8/20/16)

Thoughts on publicized shootings: Shootings early in 2009, Alabama Shootings, Finland School Shooting.
Remember: The only proven method to mitigate the disaster of a rogue
criminal shooter is to have more first responders, e.g. CCW permit
holders lawfully armed and on scene. These criminals do not respect "gun
free" zones, but simply view them as target-rich opposition-free areas
in which to slaughter innocents.

Sunday, November 27, 2016

Instilling a respect for the principle of self-defense in her son is one reason why an 88-year-old Chicago woman survived a break-in. The elderly mother was awakened one night by the sound of a gunshot. Fortunately, it had come from her son, who fended off someone who was trying to enter the house through a window. Keeping guns around for self-defense is a practice the elderly woman has followed since her husband was shot and killed during a home invasion more than 50 years ago. "My son said he wasn't going to let that somebody come in that window. He knew those boys came in the house and killed his father. He wasn't going to let somebody come in the house and kill me," the mother told television reporters after the incident. The suspect was taken to a hospital and treated for his injuries. (abc7chicago.com, Chicago, Ill., 3/28/16)

Shots rang out in a suburb of Pittsburgh when a homeowner protected his property from four juveniles who were breaking into the home. The boys were trying to enter the home through a window that housed an air conditioner. The armed citizen grabbed his .380 ACP handgun and confronted the intruders. He fired multiple shots, wounding two of the teens. All four of the suspects fled. One of the wounded was found on a nearby bridge; the second was found at a relative's house. The two uninjured accomplices were also caught. All have been charged and placed in a juvenile detention facility. Officials said the homeowner was within his rights to defend his home. (Tribune-Review, Pittsburgh, Pa., 3/23/16)

Bad guys who think the elderly and disabled make an easy target better think twice. An elderly man in Missouri, who relies on an oxygen tank, got the better of two ruffians who broke into his home as part of an attempt to steal the man's prescription drugs. The armed citizen was acquainted with one of the would-be thieves, police said, but apparently the bad guy didn't know him well enough to know he kept a gun for defensive purposes. The two men, police said, approached the door and knocked. Since the homeowner recognized one, he opened the door. The suspects, one of whom had a mask over his face, bulled themselves in, pushed the resident aside and started to rifle through his belongings. The citizen grabbed his gun and shot one intruder in the abdomen. (dailyjournalonline.com, Park Hills, Mo., 4/1/16)

Police officers responding to a report of gunshots in Georgia learned that a disabled veteran used his Smith & Wesson M&P to save his life. The man said he was awakened early in the morning when two men, claiming to be police, tried to break into his mobile home. When he checked a video surveillance device, though, the resident had a good idea that they were not police officers. The two armed thugs allegedly fired at the homeowner first, who fired back. No one was injured, but bullet holes that pock-marked the man's trailer were visible for the real police to see. "My gun saved my life," the man told reporters afterward. (WTOC, Savannah, Ga., 3/30/16)

One of two men charged with murder after a friend of theirs was killed by an armed citizen during a robbery should have been in prison at the time of the alleged murder/robbery. The criminal was free on bond and awaiting a sentencing of up to five years for a previous assault. Instead of showing up at his February sentencing, he skipped out, and he and some friends allegedly went on a spree of home invasions. One turned deadly for his cohort after a homeowner shot him. The two surviving accomplices face murder charges because someone was killed during the commission of a felony. (The Columbus Dispatch, Columbus, Ohio, 4/8/16)

A West Virginia man was savvy enough to suspect that a young woman who knocked on his door and asked to use the phone might be up to no good. So before he opened the door, he armed himself. He was right. As soon as the door was ajar, two male suspects also hustled into the home. They threatened the resident and demanded that he hand over his valuables: The elderly homeowner instead pulled out a gun and fired multiple times, hitting each of the male intruders. The female accomplice escaped the fray. One of the shooting victims was pronounced dead at the scene. The other was treated for his wounds. He and the woman face charges. (wvmetronews.com, Fairmont, W.Va., 4/19/16)

Thoughts on publicized shootings: Shootings early in 2009, Alabama Shootings, Finland School Shooting.
Remember: The only proven method to mitigate the disaster of a rogue
criminal shooter is to have more first responders, e.g. CCW permit
holders lawfully armed and on scene. These criminals do not respect "gun
free" zones, but simply view them as target-rich opposition-free areas
in which to slaughter innocents.

Fidel Castro died on Friday, and many Cubans are celebrating what they hope will be the beginning of a new era of freedom in their nation. Meanwhile, the Left has been celebrating the life of this murderous dictator, and mourning his passing. There's been some pithy commentary about this sick adoration of a very bad human being.

Why the Left will bend over backwards to justify the actions of failed communist regimes is beyond me. My bias has always been in favor of human freedom, and both communism and socialism have only ever curtailed freedom, sometimes viciously and with tremendous bloodshed. There is something wrong with any system that has to put up walls to keep its citizens in the country. I do not understand how that's okay with anyone who supports freedom.

Uh, yeah, Brian. They wouldn't rather be transporting their goods in a new Toyota Tundra. They like the impoverished conditions caused by a dictator stealing the fruits of their labor to make himself rich. So those donkey carts are okay!

Let's think about his logic for a moment. Donkey carts are so awesome some people would rather have them than automobiles. This is a trend we see throughout the U.S., too. Oh, wait. No we don't. Because cars are actually better, more comfortable and more efficient for transporting goods. Brian Williams evidently thinks Cubans are so dumb that they prefer donkey carts to trucks. If anyone on the right said anything like that, she'd be called a racist.

So, Brian Williams, congratulations: you're a racist.

To the rest of the left, stop celebrating murderers. Communist regimes and ideas caused the deaths of over 100 million fellow human beings last century. Unless you really like murder, that's a failed ideology.

Friday, November 25, 2016

Thursday, November 24, 2016

After a lot of protesting and an online movement, supporters of California seceding from the U.S. have begun the political process by filing a proposed ballot measure. This first one would strip the California Constitution of language that makes California an integral part of the United States of America. A referendum on actual secession would follow in time.

As an aside, this picture makes me laugh.

The fellow has had no political science education.

"State" actually means an independent country with

its own borders, government, etc., which is what the

States originally were. They're now more accurately

described as provinces.

California will never secede and I'll explain why, but first let's talk about the selfishness of this move. If California were able to leave the union, the U.S. would become a one party country. No Democrat would hold the Presidency again in the near future. While some people would cheer this development, one party political states aren't healthy. The California Left doesn't care what happens to the rest of the liberals in the country, though. They only care about themselves. This is the real ethos of socialists. They claim all they do is for the greater good, but it really comes down to self-indulgence at the expense of others, so it's no shock that California liberals don't care what happens to their brothers and sisters in the rest of the nation.

While much of the US would be fine with CA splitting off, it won't happen for several reasons.

1. We aren't capable of financial independence.

California has a massive economy, the 6th largest in the world, and we also have a massive spending problem. Our unfunded pension liability will at some point require a federal bail out. The political elite in California know this and that we rely heavily on federal funding because we spend far more than we take in. While the U.S. also deficit spends, California has done it for years with the expectation that at some point in the future the rest of the union would help pay for our fiscal mismanagement. So, the political elite won't let the secession process go very far.

2. Most voters won't approve secession

California voters often approve some fairly far left propositions, but they often balk at really radical things. Nearly half the State is conservative, and many of the liberals are moderate, not extremists. For examples, look at this past election's results. We extended income tax on the wealthy and repealed the bilingual education ban, but we did not repeal the death penalty or limit drug prices. We also made a fast lane for death penalty cases. Yes, the State has a majority of liberals, but many of them aren't ready to get really radical.

3. Secession would fracture California

I mentioned before that nearly half of California is conservative. Here's a map of California's political geography:

4. That whole water thing

Much of the liberal territory of California relies on water from other parts of the US and from conservative areas of California. Secession would mean no more free water, and the potential for a complete shut off of water from the foreign nations that would surround the new Liberal Coastline Polity. Farmers in the central region would rejoice and grow crops happily while San Francisco and Los Angeles shrunk in size or instituted draconian water rationing schemes and penalties, which are nothing new in California.

5. The U.S. wouldn't permit secession

Leaving all the peaceful reasons California can't secede behind, we'll now focus on the use of force. I mentioned above that California is the 6th largest economy in the world. In addition, we grow a sizeable portion of many important crops in the U.S. From Slate:

California produces a sizable majority of many American fruits,
vegetables, and nuts: 99 percent of artichokes, 99 percent of walnuts,
97 percent of kiwis, 97 percent of plums, 95 percent of celery, 95
percent of garlic, 89 percent of cauliflower, 71 percent of spinach, and
69 percent of carrots (and the list
goes on and on). Some of this is due to climate and soil. No other
state, or even a combination of states, can match California’s output
per acre.

6. Many Californians would throw in with federal forces

Remember how much of California is conservative or libertarian? We'd assist the military in quashing the liberal secession. Oh, by the way, we're the ones who practice with firearms and are completely sick of being marginalized by the Left in this state. The proposition system has left us with a clear understanding of what John Adams and later Alexis de Tocqueville meant by the tyranny of the majority. We'd fight to get back the rights the Left has been stripping from us for years. Military action succeeds best with intelligence and support from locals. We've seen your yard signs, your facebook and twitter posts. We'll defend to the death your right to say what you like, but if you get violent, we'll be happy to direct the military your way, loan them some ammo (we still have a bit, despite prop 63) and even assist as needed.

In conclusion, the California secessionist is a group of self-centered, whiny liberals who didn't get their way in this election. As a fellow who never gets his way in any election, I sympathize to an extent, but also think they're being a bunch of unrealistic drama queens. #Calexit will never happen. Trying it would be unwise and potentially very costly for all liberals.

Sunday, November 20, 2016

Michael Votruba had just arrived home from a long day at work when he spotted an animal scurrying across the yard as he exited his vehicle. Votruba was clearly able to identify the animal as a bobcat when it approached him growling. He drew the pistol he was carrying and took a few steps back. The bobcat lunged at him, attacking his leg. Votruba shook free and ran only a few steps before the bobcat jumped on his chest. Again, Votruba fought back throwing the cat to the ground and shooting twice. When the bobcat lunged at his chest yet again, Votruba fired several more shots, killing the animal. Votruba was not seriously injured during the attack, and immediately received the necessary rabies shots and an updated tetanus shot. (Telegram & Gazette, Holden, MA, 6/20/13)

Jan Cooper, 72, was at home with her husband, Bob, 85, when she made a 911 call for help as a man attempted to break into their home. She told police to hurry as the assailant was on her back porch trying to gain entry through a sliding door. She told the police that she was armed with a .357 revolver and that she would shoot if need be. When she heard the door sliding open, she fired. The intruder fled, but was later found and arrested for burglary. "I don't mean to shoot anybody," said Cooper, "but whatever's necessary to literally stop them-he was not going to come into my home." (Foxnews.com, Anaheim, CA, 6/12/13)

At approximately 11 PM, a resident responded to the sound of an intruder entering his home. A 21-year-old man had used a shovel to break through a back window and enter the residence. The resident retrieved a firearm and shot down a hallway toward the intruder. The intruder, who already had a long list of previous offenses, was struck and later pronounced dead. The homeowner was reportedly not injured during the home invasion. (The Post & Courier, Orangeburg, SC, 5/27/13)

Jessica Grayson was driving behind a pickup truck when the truck suddenly stopped in front of her, blocking her lane. A man exited the truck and approached Grayson's vehicle. He began beating on the window and grabbing the door handle in an attempt to get in. Jessica quickly pulled out her Colt .357 revolver. "... I pointed my gun at him and told him to step away from my car or I would shoot him," Grayson explained. The assailant immediately backed away from her vehicle and left. "You hear a lot of stories about guns being used in crime, but they prevent crime every day, too," Grayson said. "What if I hadn't had my gun that day?" (The Advertiser-Gleam, Danville, AL, 6/28/13)

Store owner Arturo Taveras, 69, was working at McCann's Liquors when a masked man entered, pulled a gun on him and demanded money. Taveras did not hesitate to draw his own firearm from his right hip and point it back at the would-be robber. When he saw Taveras' gun, the attempted robber fled the premises. It was last reported that police were reviewing surveillance video and searching for the attempted robber. (The Eagle-Tribune, Lawrence, MA,6/4/13)

While walking down the sidewalk, a military service member was assaulted by a man he did not know. As he was walking around 3 PM, he was approached by a stranger, who proceeded to verbally assault him before physically striking him in the head. The attack was reportedly unprovoked. The service member, also a concealed-carry permit holder, pulled out his firearm detaining the assailant until police arrived and arrested him. (The Olympian, Olympia, WA,5/31/13)

A woman and her son were driving around 11:30 AM when a vehicle cut them off and abruptly stopped in front of them. A man exited the vehicle, pulled the woman from her vehicle and held a knife to her throat. When the woman's son got out of the car to confront his mother's attacker, he was reportedly punched in the face. A passerby witnessed the attack and stopped to intervene with his .40-cal. handgun. When the suspect saw the firearm, he quickly returned to his vehicle and drove off. The good Samaritan who had stopped to help was able to get the suspect's license plate number, which later resulted in the attacker's arrest. He was charged with assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature and assault and third degree battery. (WISTV.com, Richland County, SC, 6/5/13)

Thoughts on publicized shootings: Shootings early in 2009, Alabama Shootings, Finland School Shooting.
Remember: The only proven method to mitigate the disaster of a rogue
criminal shooter is to have more first responders, e.g. CCW permit
holders lawfully armed and on scene. These criminals do not respect "gun
free" zones, but simply view them as target-rich opposition-free areas
in which to slaughter innocents.

Friday, November 18, 2016

Gun-Toting Granny Foils Armed Robbery
Three suspected criminals are in police custody after an armed Georgia grandmother foiled their attempt to rob her home on Friday.

Elaine Stiehl, 78, was settling in to take an afternoon nap when she heard a noise inside her Coweta County home. She grabbed and loaded her gun and went to investigate. Once she opened her bedroom door, she saw two men standing in her hallway.

The men, joined by a getaway driver, were in the process of stealing fur coats and power tools from Stiehl’s home when she interrupted them. After seeing Stiehl’s gun, the men took off for the door.

“I don’t know why they selected that house, but they picked the wrong one,” Colonel James Yarbrough of the Coweta County Sheriff’s Office told Fox5.

The robbers did not get far, though. Police were able to stop their car a short time later.

“Neighbors were able to give us a description of the vehicle. We pulled it over and took the subjects into custody,” Yarbrough said.

Police said they found a number of firearms in the robbers’ car in addition to the fur coats and power tools. The suspects are being charged with burglary and weapons violations. (freebeacon.com, 11/17/2016)

Pizza shop customer shoots 2 robbers, killing 1
A pizza shop customer shot and killed one robber and injured another after they tried to hold up the restaurant Tuesday night, Pennsylvania officials said.

The incident took place at Porfirio's Pizza and Pasta in Levittown, about 25 miles northeast of Philadelphia.

Police said the customer shot both men after they allegedly pistol-whipped him.

“The two male robbers apparently told the employees and the customer to get on the ground. They began pistol-whipping the customer. At that point, the customer produced a handgun and shot both of the robbers,” Middletown police Chief Joseph Bartorilla said.

One of the robbery suspects was pronounced dead at the scene after being shot in the chest. The second was in serious condition after suffering injuries in the neck and shoulder. The robber was being transferred to a hospital in Philadelphia, according to Levittown Now. (Foxnews.com, 11/16/2016)

[Note: It isn't clear whether the customer had a proper permit to carry, which is a shame. Be sure to have a CCW if you're going to carry and it's required in your state, or you may end up charged with a crime despite saving others.]

Civilian shoots, kills man attacking deputy in Florida
This is a nightmare scenario for an officer of the law. While helping with a normal traffic stop, an officer was nearly hit by a passing motorist. Believing the near miss to be intentional, he got in his cruiser and pursued. When the suspect finally stopped, he charged the officer before the officer was able to get clear of his vehicle. The suspect knocked the officer down, and began beating him as the officer struggled to defend himself and maintain control of his weapon.

While several passersby stopped to watch, but none helped until a CCW holder stopped at the scene. “The passerby, who had a Concealed Weapons License, exited his vehicle
and instructed the suspect to stop beating the deputy…after
noncompliance from the suspect, the passerby shot the suspect three
times,” sources said.

“I thank my good friends at ‘Shoot Straight’ who realized that the
hero’s gun was taken as evidence and immediately gave him a brand new
firearm,” Sheriff Mike Scott wrote. “Above all, I thank the hero that recognized the
imminent threat, rushed to Deputy Bardes’ aid, and ultimately stopped
that threat." (LeoAffairs.com, 11/2016)

Thoughts on publicized shootings: Shootings early in 2009, Alabama Shootings, Finland School Shooting.
Remember: The only proven method to mitigate the disaster of a rogue
criminal shooter is to have more first responders, e.g. CCW permit
holders lawfully armed and on scene. These criminals do not respect "gun
free" zones, but simply view them as target-rich opposition-free areas
in which to slaughter innocents.

Thursday, November 17, 2016

I'm not sure I'd have titled this the way Breitbart did, but Jon Stewart's thoughts are solid and wise:

“We also have to caution ourselves to the complexity of that
history,” he said. “I thought Donald Trump disqualified himself at
numerous points. But there is now this idea that anyone who voted for
him has to be defined by the worst of his rhetoric. There are guys in my
neighborhood who I love, I respect, that I think have incredible
qualities – that are not afraid of Mexicans and not afraid of Muslims
and not afraid of blacks. They’re afraid of their insurance premiums.”

“In the liberal community, you hate this idea of creating people as a
monolith,” Stewart continued. “Don’t look at Muslims as a monolith.
They are individuals and it would be ignorance. But everybody who voted
for Trump is a monolith – is a racist. That hypocrisy is also real in
our country. And so that is the fight that we wage against ourselves and
against each other because America is not natural. Natural is tribal.
We’re fighting against thousands of years of human behavior and history
to create something that no one ever [has]. That is what is exceptional
about America. This ain’t easy and that’s an incredible thing.”

Sunday, November 13, 2016

"You don't like a particular policy or a particular president? Then
argue for your position. Go out there and win an election. Push to
change it. But don't break it. Don't break what our predecessors spent
over two centuries building. That's not being faithful to what this
country's about."

It's simple, straightforward and accurate. Oh, wait. He said that to those who weren't happy with his presidency. Here's the source.

The statements still apply today.

Some people are wondering why we have an electoral college at all. It's because we're not a direct democracy, but rather a republic (now often called a representative democracy). Republics do a better job of protecting people from violations of rights that the majority might happily vote for. To prevent that, we have representatives and a court system tasked with protecting those rights.

Here's a more complete explanation (emphasis mine):

When U.S. citizens go to the polls to “elect” a president, they are in fact voting for a particular slate of electors. In every state but Maine and Nebraska, the candidate who wins the most votes (that is, a plurality) in the state receives all of the state’s electoral votes. The number of electors in each state is the sum of its U.S. senators and its U.S. representatives. (The District of Columbia has three electoral votes, which is the number of senators and representatives it would have if it were permitted representation in Congress.) The electors meet in their respective states 41 days after the popular election. There, they cast a ballot for president and a second for vice president. A candidate must receive a majority of electoral votes to be elected president.

The reason that the Constitution calls for this extra layer, rather than just providing for the direct election of the president, is that most of the nation’s founders were actually rather afraid of democracy. James Madison worried about what he called “factions,” which he defined as groups of citizens who have a common interest in some proposal that would either violate the rights of other citizens or would harm the nation as a whole. Madison’s fear – which Alexis de Tocqueville later dubbed “the tyranny of the majority” – was that a faction could grow to encompass more than 50 percent of the population, at which point it could “sacrifice to its ruling passion or interest both the public good and the rights of other citizens.” Madison has a solution for tyranny of the majority: “A republic, by which I mean a government in which the scheme of representation takes place, opens a different prospect, and promises the cure for which we are seeking.”

As Alexander Hamilton writes in “The Federalist Papers,” the Constitution is designed to ensure “that the office of President will never fall to the lot of any man who is not in an eminent degree endowed with the requisite qualifications.” The point of the Electoral College is to preserve “the sense of the people,” while at the same time ensuring that a president is chosen “by men most capable of analyzing the qualities adapted to the station, and acting under circumstances favorable to deliberation, and to a judicious combination of all the reasons and inducements which were proper to govern their choice.”

In modern practice, the Electoral College is mostly a formality. Most electors are loyal members of the party that has selected them, and in 26 states, plus Washington, D.C., electors are bound by laws or party pledges to vote in accord with the popular vote. Although an elector could, in principle, change his or her vote (and a few actually have over the years), doing so is rare.

As the 2000 election reminded us, the Electoral College does make it possible for a candidate to win the popular vote and still not become president. But that is less a product of the Electoral College and more a product of the way states apportion electors. In every state but Maine and Nebraska, electors are awarded on a winner-take-all basis. So if a candidate wins a state by even a narrow margin, he or she wins all of the state’s electoral votes. The winner-take-all system is not federally mandated; states are free to allocate their electoral votes as they wish.

Sandra Mize, 63, was asleep when she heard someone break in through the back door of her home. She grabbed the .22 caliber handgun she keeps by her bed and ran into her dark living room. Mize could see the silhouette of a man in her kitchen and warned him that she was armed. The man approached her despite her warnings. Mize fired once. The intruder advanced to the living room where he collapsed on the sofa. Mize kept her gun aimed at the intruder and asked him if he had been hit, but received no response. Soon after, police arrived and the intruder made his getaway attempt. He leapt from the sofa and tried to flee through the back door, but was met by a police dog. Officers arrested the 35-year-old perpetrator, who was uninjured. He has reportedly been jailed on two counts of burglary. (The Spokesman Review, Spokane, WA 4/4/2013)

Two teenage boys were spotted by a neighbor as they loaded items from the cabin next door into a vehicle parked outside. The youths wore what appeared to be blood-spattered clothing. The neighbor retrieved a firearm and confronted the interlopers. They were held at gunpoint until police arrived. The teens had run away from a juvenile rehabilitation camp just two days before. They had broken into the cabin and brutally murdered the elderly couple staying there before the armed citizen was able to stop them. (The Kansas City Star, Springfield, MO, 4/24/2013)

Passengers were picked up by a limousine driver and driven to a nightclub. Afterward, the party was taken to a convenience store. Two vehicles followed the limousine from the convenience store and pulled up on either side of the limo forcing the chauffeur to stop. There was an attempted robbery during which bullets riddled the limousine. Two passengers sustained non-life-threatening injuries. The chauffeur, who has a concealed carry permit, returned fire, fending off the attackers. (Limousine, Charter & Tour magazine, St. Petersburg, FL, 4/2/2013)

Tattoo artist Sean Rodriguez was working one afternoon when he was alerted to an assault taking place outside Black Cobra Tattoo. Six men could be seen assaulting an individual in the parking lot. "I couldn't just sit back and watch an innocent person being hurt,... " said Rodriguez. He grabbed the firearm he is licensed to carry and approached the group of men. Upon seeing the gun, the suspects fled. Rodriguez never fired a shot, nor did he point the gun in their direction. "That was just an incident [sic] of a responsible gun owner doing what they're supposed to do," Rodriquez explained. The victim was treated for minor injuries and nothing was stolen. It was last reported that all six suspects are still at large. (The Daily Times, Salisbury, MD, 3/21/2013)

A man in his early 30's entered Armen's House of Music one afternoon, looked around and left. He returned just a few minutes later with a wooden club and began attacking the owner's wife, Sylvia Armen, who was working in the store at the time. The owner, Alfred Armen, heard the commotion and ran to his wife's aid. He tried to defend his wife and fought with the suspect before shooting him to death. Mr. and Mrs. Armen were later taken to a hospital with head injuries and are expected to recover. According to police, there was no motive behind the attack. (WTAE.com, Bethel Park, PA, 4/27/2013)

Shaelynn Burton, 25, was asleep in her home when she heard someone banging on the front door at about 4 AM. When Burt~ered the door, a woman forced her way into the residence. The women got into a physical altercation and Burton was able to pin the woman against a wall. Burton told the woman that she had children in the home and that she needed to leave. The woman reportedly threatened the lives of Burton and her children, so Burton ran upstairs to grab her gun. She held the woman at gunpoint until police arrived. (Tribune Chronicle, Warren, OH, 4/17/2013)

It was around 10:30 PM when Matt Fugate heard a commotion from inside his home. When Fugate ran to investigate, he found two men assaulting his brother, John Fugate. One of the suspects was reportedly brandishing what turned out to be a pellet gun. When Fugate saw his brother in danger, he did not hesitate to take action, "I raced for the gun vault and had my gun in my hand in five seconds,... " he explained. Fugate ordered the intruders not to move and to keep their hands up. While Fugate held the intruders at gun­point, his brother was able to call police. There were no serious injuries reported. Matt Fugate later commented on the ordeal, "I was scared and angry...[but] I'm relieved that nothing bad came of it...that it ended the way it did, peacefully." (TheBlaze.com, Evansville, IN, 4/27/2013)

Thoughts on publicized shootings: Shootings early in 2009, Alabama Shootings, Finland School Shooting.
Remember: The only proven method to mitigate the disaster of a rogue
criminal shooter is to have more first responders, e.g. CCW permit
holders lawfully armed and on scene. These criminals do not respect "gun
free" zones, but simply view them as target-rich opposition-free areas
in which to slaughter innocents.

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Contributors

"Government can not inject a single dollar into the economy that it hasn't first taken out of the economy." -Tom McClintock

The rifle itself has no moral stature, since it has no will of its own. Naturally, it may be used by evil men for evil purposes, but there are more good men than evil, and while the latter cannot be persuaded to the path of righteousness by propaganda, they can certainly be corrected by good men with rifles. -Jeff Cooper, "The Art of the Rifle"

Democracy and socialism have nothing in common but one word, equality. But notice the difference: while democracy seeks equality in liberty, socialism seeks equality in restraint and servitude.-Alexis de Tocqueville

The Founders based the Constitution not on contemporary political theory of the 1700's, but on the immutable principles of human nature.